Bible/Ezekiel/6

Ezekiel 6:13

6:12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.
Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

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You will know that I am Yahweh, when their slain men are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered pleasant aroma to all their idols.

Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

Then shall you know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, on every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet smell to all their idols.

6:14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD. more: or, desolate from the wilderness

What does Ezekiel 6:13 mean?

Ezekiel 6:13 is a verse in the book of Ezekiel, in the Old Testament. In the original Hebrew, key words include יָדַע (yâdaʻ), יְהֹוָה (Yᵉhôvâh), חָלָל (châlâl). It connects to 28 cross-referenced passages elsewhere in Scripture.

Hebrew interlinear

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Then
shall
ye
knowיָדַעyâdaʻ/yaw-dah'/H3045to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.)
that
I
am
the
LORD,יְהֹוָהYᵉhôvâh/yeh-ho-vaw'/H3068Jehovah, Jewish national name of God
when
their
slainחָלָלchâlâl/khaw-lawl'/H2491pierced (especially to death); figuratively, polluted
men
shall
be
amongתָּוֶךְtâvek/taw'-vek/H8432a bisection, i.e. (by implication) the centre
their
idolsגִּלּוּלgillûwl/ghil-lool'/H1544properly, a log (as round); by implication, an idol
round
aboutסָבִיבçâbîyb/saw-beeb'/H5439(as noun) a circle, neighbour, or environs; but chiefly (as adverb, with or without preposition) around
their
altars,מִזְבֵּחַmizbêach/miz-bay'-akh/H4196an altar
upon
every
highרוּםrûwm/room/H7311to be high actively, to rise or raise (in various applications, literally or figuratively)
hill,גִּבְעָהgibʻâh/ghib-aw'/H1389a hillock
in
all
the
topsרֹאשׁrôʼsh/roshe/H7218the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itc.)
of
the
mountains,הַרhar/har/H2022a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figuratively)
and
under
every
greenרַעֲנָןraʻănân/rah-an-awn'/H7488verdant; by analogy, new; figuratively, prosperous
tree,עֵץʻêts/ates/H6086a tree (from its firmness); hence, wood (plural sticks)
and
under
every
thickעָבֹתʻâbôth/aw-both'/H5687intwined, i.e. dense
oak,אֵלָהʼêlâh/ay-law'/H424an oak or other strong tree
the
placeמָקוֹםmâqôwm/maw-kome'/H4725properly, a standing, i.e. a spot; but used widely of a locality (general or specific); also (figuratively) of a condition (of body or mind)
where
they
did
offerנָתַןnâthan/naw-than'/H5414to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.)
sweetנִיחוֹחַnîychôwach/nee-kho'-akh/H5207properly, restful, i.e. pleasant; abstractly, delight
savourרֵיחַrêyach/ray'-akh/H7381odor (as if blown)
to
all
their
idols.גִּלּוּלgillûwl/ghil-lool'/H1544properly, a log (as round); by implication, an idol

Commentary on Ezekiel 6:13

CLARKE · whole chapter
In this chapter, which forms a distinct section, the prophet denounces the judgments of God against the Jews for their idolatry, Eze 6:1-7 ; but tells them that a remnant shall be saved, and brought to a sense of their sins by their severe afflictions, Eze 6:8-14 . Verse 2 Set thy face toward the mountains of Israel - This is a new prophecy, and was most probably given after the four hundred and thirty days of his lying on his left and right side were accomplished. By Israel here, Judea is simply meant; not the ten tribes, who had long before been carried into captivity. Ezekiel uses this term in reference to the Jews only. The mountains may be addressed here particularly, because it was on them the chief scenes of idolatry were exhibited. Verse 4 Your images shall be broken - Literally, your sun images; representations of the sun, which they worshipped. See the margin. Verse 5 Will scatter your bones round about your altars - This was literally fulfilled by the Chaldeans. According to Baruch, 2:24, 25, they opened the sepulchres of the principal people, and threw the bones about on every side. Verse 9 They that escape of you shall remember me - Those that escape the sword, the pestilence, and the famine, and shall be led into captivity, shall plainly see that it is God who has done this, and shall humble themselves on account of their abominations, leave their idolatry, and worship me alone. And this they have done from the Babylonish captivity to the present day. Verse 11 Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot - Show the utmost marks of thy astonishment and indignation, and dread of the evils that are coming upon them. Some have contended for the propriety of clapping and stamping in public worship from these words! It is scarcely a breach of charity to think that such persons are themselves incapable either of attending on or conducting the worship of God. To be consistent, they should copy the prophet in his other typical actions as well as these; and then we shall hear of their lying on their left side for three hundred and ninety days, and on their right side for forty days; shaving their heads, burning their hair, baking their bread with dung, etc. Now all these things, because they were typical and commanded, were proper in the prophet: in such persons as the above they would be evidences of insanity. Such extravagant acts are no part of God's worship. Verse 14 And make the land - more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath - Diblath or Diblathayim is situated in the land of Moab. It is mentioned Num 33:46 , Almon-Diblathaim; and in Jer 48:22 , Beth-Diblathaim. It was a part of that horrible wilderness mentioned by Moses, Deu 8:15 , "wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought." The precise reason why it is mentioned here is not very evident. Some think it is the same as Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar slew the princes of Israel, and put out Zedekiah's eyes; the principal difference lying between the ד daleth and the ר resh, which in MSS. is often scarcely discernible; and hence vast multitudes of various readings. Five, probably six, of Kennicott's MSS. have רבלתה riblathah, as likewise two of my oldest MSS.; though in the margin of one a later hand directs the word to be read בדלת bedaleth, with daleth. But all the Versions read the word with a D. This may appear a matter of little importance, but we should take pains to recover even one lost letter of the word of God.
HENRY_FULL · Ezekiel 6:11–14
The Prophet's Lamentation. ( b. c. 594.) 11 Thus saith the Lord God ; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. 12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them. 13 Then shall ye know that I am the Lord , when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols. 14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the Lord . The same threatenings which we had before in the foregoing chapter, and in the former part of this, are here repeated, with a direction to the prophet to lament them, that those he prophesied to might be the more affected with the foresight of them. I. He must by his gestures in preaching express the deep sense he had both of the iniquities and of the calamities of the house of Israel ( v. 11 ): Smite with thy hand and stamp with thy foot. Thus he must make it to appear that he was in earnest in what he said to them, that he firmly believed it and laid it to heart. Thus he must signify the just displeasure he had conceived at their sins, and the just dread he was under of the judgments coming upon them. Some would reject this use of these gestures, and call them antic and ridiculous; but God bids him use them because they might help to enforce the word upon some and give it the setting on; and those that know the worth of souls will be content to be laughed at by the wits, so they may but edify the weak. Two things the prophet must thus lament:—1. National sins. Alas! for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel. Note, The sins of sinners are the sorrows of God's faithful servants, especially the evil abominations of the house of Israel, whose sins are more abominable and have more evil in them than the sins of others. Alas! What will be in the end hereof? 2. National judgments. To punish them for these abominations they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. Note, It is our duty to be affected not only with our own sins and sufferings, but with the sins and sufferings of others; and to look with compassion upon the miseries that wicked people bring upon themselves; as Christ beheld Jerusalem and wept over it. II. He must inculcate what he had said before concerning the destruction that was coming upon them. 1. They shall be run down and ruined by a variety of judgments which shall find them out and follow them wherever they are ( v. 12 ): He that is far off, and thinks himself out of danger, because out of the reach of the Chaldeans' arrows, shall find himself not out of the reach of God's arrows, which fly day and night ( Ps. xci. 5 ): He shall die of the pestilence. He that is near a place of strength, which he hopes will be to him a place of safety, shall fall by the sword, before he can retreat. He that is so cautious as not to venture out, but remains in the city, shall there die by the famine, the saddest death of all. Thus will God accomplish his fury, that is, do all that against them which he had purposed to do. 2. They shall read their sin in their punishment; for their slain men shall be among their idols, round about their altars, as was threatened before, v. 5-7 . There, where they had prostrated themselves in honour of their idols, God will lay them dead, to their own reproach and the reproach of their idols. They lived among them and shall die among them. They had offered sweet odours to their idols, but there shall their dead carcases send forth an offensive smell, as it were to atone for that misplaced incense. 3. The country shall be all laid waste, as, before, the cities ( v. 6 ): I will make the land desolate. That fruitful, pleasant, populous country, that has been as the garden of the Lord, the glory of all lands, shall be desolate, more desolate than the wilderness towards Diblath, v. 14 . It is called Diblathaim ( Num. xxxiii. 46 ; Jer. xlviii. 22 ), that great and terrible wilderness which is described, Deut. viii. 15 , wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions. The land of Canaan is at this day one of the most barren desolate countries in the world. City and country are thus depopulated, that the altars may be laid waste and made desolate, v. 6 . Rather than their idolatrous altars shall be left standing, both town and country shall be laid in ruins. Sin is a desolating thing; therefore stand in awe and sin not.

Cross-references

Related passages from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

Ezra 9:6

And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. trespass: or, guiltiness

Ezra 9:13

And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; hast punished: Heb. hast withheld beneath our iniquities

Nehemiah 9:33

Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:

Jeremiah 3:2

Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

Jeremiah 5:3

O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Jeremiah 5:25

Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

Jeremiah 7:8

Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

Jeremiah 14:7

O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.

Ezekiel 1:4

And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. infolding: Heb. catching itself

Ezekiel 5:6

And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.

Ezekiel 7:23

Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.

Ezekiel 8:8

Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door.

Ezekiel 16:51

Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

Ezekiel 16:52

Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

Ezekiel 22:2

Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations. judge: or, plead for bloody: Heb. city of bloods? shew her: Heb. make her know

Ezekiel 22:24

Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

Ezekiel 23:2

Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

Ezekiel 24:6

Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.

Daniel 9:5

We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

Hosea 4:2

By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. blood: Heb. bloods

Hosea 5:5

And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

Hosea 7:10

And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.

Matthew 23:32Matthew 23:33Romans 3:19Romans 3:201 Thessalonians 2:151 Thessalonians 2:16

Topics

IdolatryOak Tree, the

Verses like this

Other verses that share key original-language words with Ezekiel 6:13.

Exodus 14:16

But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

Exodus 28:32

And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent.

Exodus 28:33

And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: hem: or, skirts

Exodus 29:16

And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.

Exodus 29:20

Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

Genesis 2:9

And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 3:22

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Genesis 3:8

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. cool: Heb. wind

Frequently asked questions

What does Ezekiel 6:13 say?

Ezekiel 6:13 (King James Version) reads: "Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols."

Is Ezekiel 6:13 in the Old or New Testament?

Ezekiel 6:13 is in the Old Testament of the Bible, in the book of Ezekiel.

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As you read Ezekiel 6:13, what is one truth here you can carry into today?

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